he rose to address the House it soon
became evident that he had something to say, and that he was determined
to give his adversary at least as good as he brought. Nothing could be
more effective than Walpole's method of reply. It was not to Sir
William Wyndham that he replied; at least it was not Sir William
Wyndham whom he attacked. Walpole passed Wyndham by altogether.
Wyndham he well knew to be but the mouth-piece of Bolingbroke, and it
was at Bolingbroke that he struck. "I hope I may be allowed," he said,
"to draw a picture in my turn; and I may likewise say that I do not
mean to give a description of any particular person now in being.
Indeed," Walpole added, ingenuously, "the House being cleared, I am
sure no person that hears me can come within the description of the
person I am to suppose." This was a clever touch, and gave a new barb
to the dart which Walpole was about to fling. The House was cleared;
none but members were present; the description applied to none within
hearing. Bolingbroke, of course, was not a member; he could not hear
what Walpole was saying. Then Walpole went on to paint his picture.
He supposed, "in this or in some other unfortunate country, an
anti-minister . . . in a country where he really ought not to be, and
where he could not have been but by an effect of too much goodness and
mercy, yet endeavoring with all his might and with all his art to
destroy the fountain from whence that mercy flowed." Walpole depicted
this anti-minister as one "who thinks himself a person of so great and
extensive parts, and of so many eminent qualifications, that he looks
upon himself as the only person in the kingdom capable of conducting
the public affairs of the nation." {16} Walpole supposed "this fine
gentleman lucky enough to have gained over to his party some persons of
really great parts, of ancient families, and of large fortunes, and
others of desperate views, arising from disappointed and malicious
hearts." Walpole grouped with fine freehand-drawing the band of
conspirators thus formed under the leadership of this anti-minister.
All the band were moved in their political behavior by him, and by him
solely. All they said, either in private or public, was "only a
repetition of the words he had put into their mouths, and a spitting
forth of the venom which he had infused into them." Walpole asked the
House to suppose, nevertheless, that this anti-minister was not really
liked by any even